KUCHING, Oct 26: The Federal government has, in principle, agreed to the devolution of power in critical areas of education to Sarawak.
Discussions on the related legal matters will commence soon, involving the Attorney-General (AG) Chambers and Sarawak AG Chambers.
This decision was reached during a follow-up meeting between the Ministry of Education, Innovation, and Talent Development (MEITD) Sarawak, led by Minister Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn, and Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof in Parliament Building, Kuala Lumpur today.
According to a media release, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and MEITD will convene again to refine the details, especially concerning operational and administrative matters.
The Education director-general Datuk Pkharuddin Ghazali has been tasked with initiating discussions on legal matters related to the devolution of autonomy for education, involving the AG Chambers and Sarawak AG Chambers.
Fadillah has also instructed the immediate establishment of a MoE-MEITD committee to share data on education in Sarawak, focusing on student dropout rates and academic achievements.
This is intended to aid MEITD and the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Sarawak in assessing the effectiveness of various state-initiated intervention programmes, as well as assisting MoE.
Furthermore, the meeting also addressed the issue of a shortage of over 3,000 teachers in Sarawak.
Fadillah instructed the Education Services Commission (SPP) and MoE to promptly look into this matter and propose solutions, including the possibility of allowing interim teachers to enter the teaching profession.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Fadillah requested all parties to submit detailed reports on the agreed-upon actions within one month for it to be escalated to the main committee of Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Various top officials from Federal ministries and departments, including the MoE, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, SPP, Implementation and Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department and AG Chambers, were in attendance at the meeting.
Deputy Minister of Education and Innovation Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee, Deputy Minister of Talent Development Datuk Francis Harden Hollis, permanent secretary to MEITD Datu Azmi Bujang, and Sarawak AG Datu Saferi Ali were among those present. — DayakDaily
